Tag Archives: Cleveland Fire Department

Cleveland Settles Claims With Former Battalion Chief for $990k

A former Cleveland battalion chief who claims he was retaliated against based on the mistaken belief he leaked information to a reporter in 2013, has settled a federal court lawsuit with the city for $990,000. Battalion Chief Sean DeCrane claims he was passed over for promotion and retaliated against by city officials who believed he leaked information about former Fire Chief Daryl McGinnis’ lack of training.

Read More »

Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Firefighter Termination

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that an at-will firefighter does not have an expectation of continued employment merely because a fire department’s employee handbook grants a right to appeal a disciplinary action. In so ruling the court concluded that the City of Cleveland did not violate the due process rights of firefighter Joshua Keller when it terminated him in 2012.

Read More »

Cleveland Lieutenants Allege Disparate Impact Bias on Captain’s Exam

Twenty-four fire lieutenants with the Cleveland Fire Department are suing the city alleging that the results of a recent captain’s exam produced such a statistical imbalance that it violates federal anti-discrimination guidelines. While such an claim, referred to as disparate impact discrimination, is hardly precedent setting, what is unusual is that white firefighters are making it.

Read More »

Prosecutors Decline to Charge Cleveland Fire Chief

Cleveland.com is reporting that Cleveland Fire Chief Angelo Calvillo will not face criminal charges stemming from his collecting of signatures for Mayor Frank Jackson’s re-election campaign. Prosecutors were looking into whether Chief Calvillo violated a city charter provision involving political activities.

Read More »

Termination of Cleveland Sub Scammer Upheld

The Cleveland firefighter who was at the center of a shift-trading scandal in 2013, has lost his race discrimination suit in US District Court. Calvin Robinson was fired in 2014 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor offense of Complicity to Solicit or Receive Improper Compensation.

Read More »

Cleveland Firefighter Accuses FD of Reverse Discrimination

A Cleveland firefighter who claims he was forced to resign after his complaints about a hostile work environment were mishandled, has filed suit claiming the department leadership discriminated against him because he is white. Samuel Livingston claims he was threatened and assaulted while on duty by a colleague who is described in the complaint as “non-Caucasian”.

Read More »

Cleveland Subbing Scandal Firefighter Claims Race Discrimination

The firefighter at the center of a subbing scandal in Cleveland several years ago, has filed suit claiming his termination in 2014 constituted race discrimination. Calvin Robinson was charged in 2013 with felony theft in office and misdemeanor receiving improper compensation for paying other firefighters to work his shift.

Read More »

35 Cleveland Firefighters Disciplined Over Secondary Employment Violations

Thirty-five Cleveland firefighters are being disciplined for working in violation of the department’s secondary employment policy. The discipline follows an investigation prompted by a local TV Station, WOIO-TV Channel 19, that proclaimed “some Cleveland firefighters [were] violating the policy on part-time work, putting themselves and citizens at risk.”

Read More »

Facebook Again – This Time It’s Cleveland

A Facebook post that prompted over 60,000 responses including comments from Hillary Clinton and other elected officials, prompted a post from Cleveland firefighter that is now the center of an investigation. On July 3, Humans of New York posted a photo of a weeping child saying, “I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me.”

Read More »

Cleveland Firefighter Acquitted of Filing False Accident Report

A Cleveland firefighter who was charged with submitting a false report following an apparatus accident has been found not guilty by a jury. Last June, firefighter Richard Nickerson, 42, was driving Cleveland’s Ladder 36 when it drove into a light tower in a parking lot. Nickerson and his officer, Capt. Ronald Vargo, 50, allegedly submitted reports stating Ladder 36 was cut-off by a white car.

Read More »

Surveillance Video Fuels Criminal Charges Against Two Cleveland Firefighters

A surveillance video has been released showing the crash of a Cleveland ladder truck in a parking lot last June. Two firefighters, the driver and the officer, have been charged criminally with submitting false reports about how the accident occurred. Fire Captain Ron Vargo and Firefighter Richard Nickerson blamed the crash on a vehicle that cut them off...

Read More »